Many cooks claim to have the ‘ultimate’ lasagne recipe – often passed down by some since-departed Italian ancestor. This strikes me as being rather daft – lasagne is such a varied dish that there can be no ‘ultimate’ recipe.
There are, however, plenty of dreadful recipes, often resulting in a plate of greasy, stodgy, overcooked pasta with pieces of rubbery mince and rancid cheese.
Before I give you my recipe, it’s worth reflecting for a second on what you want your lasagne to be.
For me, a great lasagne is made with fresh egg pasta - still ‘al-dente’ - layered with a beef ragù and a tomato sauce, and enriched with a light, nutmeg infused béchamel sauce.
So this gives us the list of the main elements:
- Fresh egg lasagne
- Beef ragù
- Tomato sauce
- Béchamel sauce
Fresh egg lasagne
You can make your own lasagne – it’s easier than you think. Or you can be lazy and use the dried variety.
Beef ragù
This is not made with mince. Ever.
Think of it as a thick beef stew, and apply the same principles.
Start with some good quality stewing beef – I like to use shin as it has the best flavour. You could use flank or chuck steak.
Fry the chunks of beef - in a large saucepan - in oive oil till browned, then chuck in some chopped onion/carrot/celery, a good glug (half a bottle) of red wine, salt, a couple of dried chillies and a tablespoon of red wine vinegar.
Cover, and simmer very, very gently for three hours.
That’s it.
Make more than you need for the lasagne – it freezes well, and can be used for all sorts of dishes.
Tomato sauce
Start with fresh tomatoes by all means, but only if you have a load of ripe, flavoursome Italian style tomatoes. If all you have is some red cardboard things from a greenhouse in Holland, don’t bother. I use a can of chopped Italian tomatoes and add a chopped shallot. I don’t even cook it.
Béchamel sauce
Look it up.
Lasagne
To assemble the lasagne, start with a rectangular dish and cover the base with tomato sauce. Cover with a layer of lasagne, then a layer of ragù, more lasagne, more tomato etc.
Finish with a layer of lasagne which you then cover with the béchamel.
Finally, dot with butter and sprinkle with fresh parmesan.
Bake in a hot oven – 180C – for 40 minutes.
Enjoy.
If you have left overs, try them cold. It’s nicer than you imagine.
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